Monday, December 26, 2011

Celebritard Porn: Kardashian Products are Made In Chinese Sweatshops

Remember back in the 1990s when white bread America was scandalized that Kathie Lee Gifford's line of cheap ass clothing sold at Walmarts throughout the land was being produced by Guatemalan sweatshops? In the wake of the resulting outcry, Gifford at least had the decency to act horrified by the revelations, apologize and then lobby against such activities. It was in so many ways a much more innocent time back then.

As reported last week by Radar Online, reality teevee stars, the Kardashian family, have now conspired to make Kathie Lee Gifford look like Norma Rae Webster:

In a stunning world exclusive exposé Star magazine is reporting that the Kardashian family are endorsing and selling fashion products manufactured in foreign sweatshops, where workers, some as young as sixteen years old, are abused and virtually imprisoned.

The allegations about Kardashian products in this post have nothing to do with their products sold at Sears.

A prestigious human-rights watchdog organization has launched an investigation into America’s top TV family, with officials imploring the Kardashians not to profit from what amounts to “slave labor.”

“The Kardashians are in bed with some pretty bad people,” Charles Kernaghan, the executive director of the Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights, tells Star. “Not only are celebrities like the Kardashians taking advantage of these workers, they are holding hands with a government that spits on democracy and women’s rights.”

So how bad are the factory conditions? About as bad as you would expect:

Shockingly, the impoverished workers earn just a paltry $1 an hour, slaving away in factories in the Guangdong region of China, which Kernaghan describes as being "like minimum-security prisons."

The region is a “scary place,” Kernaghan continues, where the peak summer season is “brutal,” with temperatures inside non-air-conditioned factories soaring to over 100˚F. Workers in the region can come out with as little as $15 a month once rent and food debts have been paid to their bosses.

“You can’t talk during working hours,” Kernaghan adds. “You can’t listen to music; you can’t stand up and stretch. You can’t even put your head up and look around, or you will be screamed at. If you get permission to use the toilet, you get four minutes. If you’re highly specialized, you cannot even go to the bathroom.”

And right here we have the "No shit, Sherlock" quote of the year:

Li Qiang, the executive director of China Labor Watch, says that the reality stars are turning a blind eye to human rights abuses, for the sake of their bottom line. “People like the Kardashians are producing their products in China because they will get more profit, since the labor cost is so low compared to the United States and other countries,” he tells Star exclusively.

The sweatshop workers live in squalid factory-run dormitories filled with the stench of sewage while toiling up to 84 hours during seven-day work weeks to produce some of the goods that helped Kourtney, 32, Kim, 31, Khloé, 27, mom Kris, 56, and the rest of their family earn $65 million last year.

I'm going to have to take issue with that last passage and say that it is NOT in fact the factories themselves that allow the Kardashians to make such an obscene profit from virtual slave labor. It is instead the drooling consumer zombies in America and elsewhere who worship celebritards like the Kardashians and unthinkingly run out to buy their hideous merchandise without giving so much as one moment's thought to the human costs that are enabling this abomination. Seriously, just how addled does your mind have to be to not only be entertained by the antics of such utterly vacuous no-talents, but then to open your wallet or purse and actually spend your hard earned money on their lines of overpriced, cheaply made shit?

It's easy to hate on the Kardashians because they are, in fact, so utterly hate-able. But doing so is just a cop out that absolves everyone of responsibility who continually seeks out the lowest price or the latest utterly useless fad item with no concern as to the larger societal or global consequences. The original article for this story appeared in a tabloid rag, and will no doubt cause its dimwitted readership to feel all superior to those awful Kardashians, even as the latter laugh all the way to the bank. At the end of the day it is our mindless consumer culture, and not JUST the Kardashians, who so richly deserve to be demonized.

Bonus: Here's a little song about what I'd rather do than spend ONE SINGLE MINUTE watching the Kardashians